Cotton cutting machine



Nov. 1, 1938. J. A. voss COTTON CUTTING MACFINE File d Jan. 26; 1937 INVENTOR.

5 Sheets-Sheet l 'Nov. 1, 1938. J. A. voss Y 2,135,060

COTTON CUTTING MACHINE File d Jan. 26, 1957 5 SheetsSh eet 3 F U INVENTOR.

M W A ORNEY,-

NOV. 1, 1938. VQSS 2,135,060

COTTON CUTTING MACHINE Filed Jan. 26, 1937 v 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. BY fax/w 41/055.

. %%/ATTORNEY.

Patented Nov. 1, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT" OFFICE 3 Claims.

This invention relates to a machine for cutting a continuous strip or sheet of cotton into uniform sized pads and is more particularly designed for cutting cotton pads to be used in the machine for compressing cotton wads for which application for'patent is copending, under Serial No. 19,658.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a highly efficient and rapid automatic machine which will cut a continuous strip of cotton or similar material into uniform lengths or pads of uniform weight, without crushing or damaging the cotton.

It is impossible to obtain rolled cotton batting of uniform thickness and uniform width, therefore, in a machine of this type, if pads of uniform weight are desired, some means must be provided for quickly and constantly varying the width of the pad so that the thinner pads will be cut proportionally wider than the thicker pads. Another object of this invention is to provide such means, under the constant control of the operator so that thesize of the pad can be regulated to conform to a uniform standard of weight.

Other objects and advantages reside in the detail construction of the invention, which is designed for simplicity, economy, and efficiency. These will become more apparent from! the following description.

In the following detailed description of the invention reference is had to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof. Like numerals refer to like parts in all views of the drawings and throughout the description.

In the drawings: V

Fig. 1 is a right side elevation of the complete pad cutting machine.

Fig. 2 is a left side elevation of the cutting extremity thereof.

Fig. 3 is an end view looking toward the discharge extremity.

Fig. 4 is a vertical cross section taken on the line 4--4, Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a longitudinal section taken on the line 5-5, Fig. 2.-

While the machine is particularly designed to cut cotton pads from a continuous strip of cotton it could, of course, be employed to out parts 50 from any desired material. In this description of the machine, however, the material will be referred to as cotton.

The invention consists of a supporting frame In which supports the entire mechanism. A smooth feed table H extends longitudinally of the frame In and along the top thereof. A pair of roll brackets I2 extend upwardly from one extremity of the table II to support a roll l3 of cotton tobe 'cut by the machine.

The cotton is drawn from the roll Ill by means of a pair of feed rollers l4. The upper feed roller is 'a weighted idler to press the cotton against the lower feed roller. The lower feed roller I4 is driven through the medium of a suitable belt l5 from a counter-shaft 42. The tension in the belt I5 is regulated by means of a pulley I6 carried on a tension lever ll. The tension lever terminates on the opposite side of the machine in a hand'lever [8 by means of which the operator can constantly regulate the tension of the belt I5 so as to allow the feed rolleI's 14 to move at any desired speed orbe brought to a stop if they are feeding the material too rapidly. The strip of cotton is fed through the rollers I4 'along the'table toward the forward extremity thereof, at which point a knife l9 reciprocates so as to cut the traveling cotton into short sections. The sections slide from the machine on a discharge chute 20.

Thecotton stripis fed to the knife at uniform intervalsby means of a' tucker blade 2| which is hinged to a hinge shaft 22 extending between the extremities of a slidable cross head 23. The tucker blade 2| is held against the cotton by gravity 'and, as the cross head moves rearwardly, slides over the cotton without impartingmovement thereto and then, as the cross head moves forwardly, the blade engages the cotton and pushes it beneath the knife IS. The cross head is reciprocated by a cross head lever 24 hinged at its lower extremity on a cross shaft 25. A ten-v sion spring 26 constantly holds the lever 24 against a cam 21, the contour of which forces the lever 24 rearwardly. The spring 26, of course, returns the lever and causes it to follow the cam. A bearing plate 29 on the lever provides a bearing surface on the cam. Should any obstruction, such as the operators hand, be in the path of the cross head 23, it will cease moving instantly upon striking the object since there is nothing to positively force it forward. This provides a safety control for the tucking blade. The upper extremity of the lever 24 rides over a roller bearing 28 in the cross head 23 to provide' a frictionless construction.

The width of the pad cut from the strip depends upon the length of the stroke of the cross head23 and meansare provided for accurate regulation of this stroke while the machine is inoperation. Thelength of the stroke of the lever can be varied by varying the distance between the cross head shaft 25 and the contact point of the cam 21. Thus, if the cam contacts a long distance from the shaft 25, the stroke will be less than if it contacts adjacent the shaft 25. Therefore stroke adjustment is provided by providing means for raising and lowering the cam 27 while the machine is in operation. Cam 2'! is mounted on a cam shaft 30. The cam shaft 30 passes through a vertically elongated opening 3| in a guide frame 32 which allows it to be moved vertically. A a w The movement is accomplished by journaling the cam shaft 30 in a yoke which is also carried in the guide frame 32 and which is supported by an adjusting lever 33 which engages a pin 34 in the yoke 40. The lever 33 is pivoted intermediate its extremities on a, suitable pivot pin. 35 from the frame [0. A clevis 36 ishingedly secured to the outer extremity of the lever 33. An agil st gTscrew 31 is. threaded. into the clevis .6: .Thehscr w. 31 provided with a hand, kno

135- he knob. fl is rooved to receive a fi bearing tflwhiehis e ur dto thefr me l0. Thus it hb seen that rotation of the kn as will threadthe screw 31, into, or out of the elev s 5. a d. s n e he bracket 3.9.prevents the screw from rnpving vertically, it will force the ute .v xtremitvofthe lever. ownwardly or pwardly, This in turn, caus es theinner extremity of the lever 33 .to raiseor, lower the yoke 40, thereby changing the point of contact of the cam 2] with the lever 24L and varying the length of the stroke of the cross ,head.

The earn shaft 30 is driven through the medium of a fiexiblechain 4]; fro the counter-shaft 42. The counter-shaft; 42. is driven through the medium of suitable speed reduction belts 4.3.and pulleys 44; from a driving motor 45. The motor 4 5 is preferably ofa type having afriction clutch built therein- On, the;drawing the clutch mechanisrnis represented. by a clutch housing 46. The ut h. perated from. a. clutch pedal 41. A locking latch 48 is provided to hold it in engagement. The operator ,can. quickly kickthe latch 48'out of engagement. with the pedal 41 to disengage the clutch and bring themachine to an instant stop.

The knife blade IQ is supported from a knife block 49 which hangs from a pair of links 50'. The links 50 are journalled attheir upper extremities on hinge pins 5.! supported in an arch member 5|, extending upwardly from the frame In. The archmember 5l'lalso supports a weighing scale table 59. .It is prefered to position one of.the links 50. higher than the other so that the knife will descend on a diagonal stroke to impart a'shea rin'g ac'tion to the knife [9.

' The knife is operated through themedium of a connecting rod52 from crank disc 53 on the cross shaft '25. The cross shaft 25 is driven from thecounterrshaft 32 through the medium of a chain 54 The connectin rod ,52 terminates in a universal joint 55,on,-an operating crank 56 which is keyed on the hinge pin 51 of one of the links 50 therefore, each tir ne the connecting rod 52 're'ciprocates, it will swing thlinks 50, These links will, in turn, swing the knife blade I9 downwardly on a curved diagonal stroke which causes it to easily shear the cotton. This shearing action is accomplished in cooperation with a stationary blade .58 on the extremity of the tablell. I a l The shaft 25 rotates at the same speed as the cam shaft 30 so that the knife will make a stroke each time the tucker blade completes its stroke.

It is, of course, necessary to have some means of holding the cotton down during the reciprocation of the knife blade l9, this is accomplished by means of a weighted hold-down bar 60 which is slidably mounted in the arch member 5| so that it may move up and down over the cotton. The hold-down bar is lifted on the forward stroke of the tucking blade by means, of a contact pin 6] which reaches forwardly from the b91360 above thekni'fe block 49. Thus, as the knife back swings upwardly it will strike the pin 5| and lift the bar 60 to allow the tucker blade to push the cotton forwardly. As the knife descends, the bar 6!} will preceed it and, by its own weight, clampthe cotton against the lower blade 58 before, the knife 19. reaches it. On the up stroke, the knife I9 will completely disengage the cotton before the hold-down bar leaves it.

In operation the operator places. a roll of cotto n. the. u ort n b a k ts. l2- and; feeds this cotton. und r. therupp r o er H) the bearings ,of th s ol er ei slo ted s hat itma be i e he cot s. then. fed beneath.- h t cker blade 1 to the. e trem ty of the abl The operat then takes his position at the leftside of the ma ne opphsi eth adjus in sc ew and the pedal ilendgw h he at er n ges the motor u ch. he erosshead e p at s. rapidly back a or h. and at each reciprocation tucksa len th of cotton beneath; the knife blade I9. At the completion of each stroke of the tucker-blade, the knife [9 swings and shearsa pad from the strip.

' At intervals, the operator takes one of the sheared pads from thechute 201 and places it on his weighing scale on the scale table 2.9. If it is running tooheavy he shortens the tucking stroke to narrow thecut pad. In case the. pads are too light, the reverse action. is accomplished to increase thewidth ofithe strip. In this way the operator constantly controls the, width and weight of. thecut, pads.

It is preferred to relieve the torque strain on the upper hinge pin..51; which transmits the movement to, the knife, by extendingan inverted V-shaped connecting member. 63 ;from the. crank 56.0venthe arch member 51 tothe upper link 50.

The number of. pads cut by theknife in agiven length of timecan beHdetermined-by.meansof a counting meter 62 which maybe connected-to any reciprocating part of the machine. Aslillustrated thegmet'er 62 is connected to one of the knife links5ll by meansof a suitable connecting rod64.'

If desired thecrank 56imay= be extendedto provide a counterweight leverlG'I-for.receivinga suitable counterweight", Gaffer counterbalanci'ng the weight of the knife l9, knifecblock49, and hold-down bar.6l].

Cross head guides 66 are provided-on the frame I0. for guiding the horizontal movement of the cross head 23. The operating mechanism may be enclosed by suitable sideplates65 if dsi'redt 7 While a specific form of the improvementhas been described and! illustrated herein/it is-ciesired' to be understood that-the same may be varied, within the scope of the appended claims, without departing" from the spirit of-thej invnti'on. f

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed "and desired secured by Letters Patent 1s:-

1'. A machine for cutting strip material into relatively short lengths comprising: a work table for supporting said material; a stationary knife blade at one extremity of said table; a reciprocating knife blade hingedly supported above said stationary knife blade; a reciprocating member moving at right angles to said blades; an inclined tucking blade hingedly supported by said reciprocating member so as to rest upon the material on said table; means for reciprocating said knife; a lever hinged at its lower extremity and contacting said reciprocating member at its upper extremity; a cam shaft extending across said lever; a vertically movable frame carrying said cam shaft; a cam on said cam shaft; a spring urging said lever against said cam; and means for raising and lowering said frame to vary the point of contact between said cam and said lever along the length of the latter.

2. A machine for cutting strip material into relatively short lengths comprising: a work table for supporting said material; a stationary knife blade at one extremity of said table; a reciprocating knife blade hingedly supported above said stationary knife blade; a reciprocating member moving at right angles to said blades; an inclined tucking blade hingedly supported by said reciprocating member so as to rest upon the masupporting said frame at its one extremity; and screw means for raising or-lowering the other extremity of said lever so as to vary the point of contact between said cam and said first lever along the length of. the latter to vary the stroke of said tucking blade.

3. In a machine for cutting strip material into uniform lengths ofthe type having a reciprocating knife and a work table for supporting said material, means for feeding material from said table to said knife at intervals, comprising: a cross-head slidably mounted on each side edge of said table; a hinge bar extending between cross-heads over said table; a tucking blade hinged on said bar at one side and resting by gravity on said table at the other side; a lever below said table pivoted at its lower extremity and extending upwardly to contact said crossheads; a cam shaft positioned between said lever and said knife; a cam on said shaft contacting said lever; a spring drawing said lever into contact \mithsaid cam so that said spring will move said tuckingblade toward said knife and said cam will move said blade away from said knife; a vertically movable bearing member supporting said cam shaft and means for raisng or lowering said bearing member to vary the point of contact of said cam along said lever; a supporting lever supporting said bearing member at its one extremity and a jack screw for absorbing the up thrust of the other extremity of said supporting lever so actuation of said screw will cause said lever to raise said bearing member to vary the point of contact of said cam along said lever. JOSEPH A. VOSS. 

